Don't be Shy with the Dye

Last Wednesday I attended my second tie dye party at the fabulous Grady Smith's. Grady and his wife, Lolly have been hosting a community party for many years near Freedom Park. It's a 10-10 affair and good times and much dye was had by all. While I was there, several former students and fellow teachers arrived which made for a fun afternoon. I also got to see a groovy electric three-wheeled car. I left with a t-shirt for school and a hand towel to wash the EXPO off our white board in style.

Thanks to Grady for hosting this community party - it is a pleasure and your generosity is a blessing.





My former student/rising dance star Silas showed up and we chatted for a long while on the porch



One of Grady's friends documented the party last year - check it out in super-fast speed by following the link below:
http://web.me.com/davehuntley/TIE_DYE/movie_page.html

Colemans in Asheville

This weekend we journeyed to Carolyn and Chuck's beautiful home in Asheville and, to our delight, the Coleman family joined us. We had so much much on the beach by the lake and the kickin' playground with the boys and having time with good friends. The boys were so well-behaved and hilarious. We especially loved James' "mommy" pose. I also have to give a shout out to my husband who retained the coveted golf trophy with Grant. Way to go, babe!

Blast from the Past

I just finished watching this 1987 classic on E! s "movies we love" - if you haven't seen it in a while, check it out again - it's precious. Plus, i think I finally spotted the "ghost" in the background - remember that? I could never see it at the time but always said I did. Heh! Oh, the eighties...

Brooke and Ryan

We spent last weekend in Anna Maria Island, FL outside of Tampa celebrating the wedding of Mr. Ryan Wilson to the lovely Brooke Willmering. Not only did we get to celebrate a very happy marriage but we spent time with old friends and got to do some once in a lifetime things.

Old friends included the Jackson, Sprouse, Brown, Griggs, Kerr, and Edwards families as well as Miss Cate Candler and her beaux Chris. It was also fun to catch a glimpse of Jarrell and his new, precious wife, Lauren and LD.

I feel so thankful for the once in a lifetime experiences this wedding afforded: hanging out in Cherryfish, a house designed by the amazing Frank Lloyd Wright, doing yoga on the beach, seeing my first skimmer and osprey in person, and noting first hand the dangers of spray-on sunscreen (david can fill in the details).

At the risk of sounding super cheesy, Cherryfish was a marvel in modern design - wide open space with beautiful white-washed wood throughout. The view was incredible - spanning the width of the house and straight out over the ocean. It was beautiful without being pretentious - just solid, gorgeous design.

Ryan and Brooke could not have been glowing more and we loved the non-traditional wedding. It was straight up clean and cool. Enjoy the pictures...


Cherryfish


view from outside cherryfish entry






view from inside Cherryfish

No More School

So school with children ended on the 12th and I finished my teacher stuff last week. I am so grateful for an amazing year of learning and living with some pretty incredible fifth graders and amazing colleagues.

I am feeling the loss of the end of the year more acutely this year. Not only did I adore this class but we lost some amazing staff leaving to pursue other ventures, too. Now that the missing is passing a bit, I am trying my hardest to settle into summer!

Enjoy this video put together by Father Jacob about Trinity teachers - he used it at our end of year faculty chapel - it's precious.

Shakespeare on the Green

Last Sunday, my friend Kim and I decided to take a break from reality for a few hours and enjoy the Collaborative Arts Theatre's production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night on the Green Uptown. It was a wonderful production and I lovely evening with a precious friend. Our favorites were Malvolio and Alexander ... hilar to the max.

Kim is off to Africa to teach for the summer this Saturday, so i was thankful for our time together ... you can keep up with her journey on my blog list ...

"This falls out better than I could have devised..."

...says King Oberon to Puck in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. I could not agree more when I think of how the children performed last week in their production. They had their parents rolling in the aisles and performed with such confidence it was amazing. Most importantly, they had a ball together - makes me remember why a play is named as such.

After all was said and done, we asked them why we study Shakespeare in fifth grade. Here is some of their thinking: "to give us self confidence," "so we can learn lessons to life because that's what all his messages were," "we can learn writing skills from him," "to expand our learning," " he wrote so cool and you really need to know that type of writing," and "so we can experience the greatness of William Shakespeare."

One of them said, "Shakespeare is the best thing that happened to me." LOVE IT.

Thanks to Carolyn, Chuck, and Dave for cheering them on and for my colleague Steve for the pictures in the album below.

Shakespeare 2009

Finally, thanks to Carolyn for her pics - they are equally as precious, but I couldn't figure out how to steal them from your site to get them on the blog!!!